The service obviously wasn't "essential." The home owners are still alive. If they thought their home was worth more than $75 they would have paid the bill.
I can think of a few genres you're missing: Dinosaurs, Ancient Civilization, Vikings, Wild West, Post-Apocalyptic, Eastern Fantasy, Arabian Fantasy, Undersea Adventure, Elemental, etc...
TF2 has 9 classes to choose from! And quests ("push the cart!", "go get the flag!", "defend the point!"). You gain new loot by playing. You can get achievements. You group with other players and kill enemies. It's basically the best online RPG ever.
For all the people say "LOL they'll just print more" or "OMG censorship is bad!" here are the relevant parts of the story:
"[T]he Defense Intelligence Agency objected to the use of the names of American intelligence officers, among other issues." and "A new print run, without the disputed passages, is being prepared by the publisher."
This compromise is reasonable and legal. We still get the story but the intelligence officers names won't be published.
I suppose it depends on your definition of "now". Discrete graphics cards will still work with both systems. Fully integrated graphics won't reach the level of obsoleting discrete graphics for several more years.
I like the way the combat system works for magic and martial. Playing a barbarian in 4e is really a lot of fun. The rages give interesting and varied side effects and the bonuses for charging (with the appropriate build) make combats a lot more dynamic.
Balance is objectively a "good thing" for games with multiple players who each want to contribute. This isn't a movie script, it is a game. If you want the party to have challenges then it will be a lot more fun for all the participants if the challenge is some outside force against a balanced party rather than a challenge for sub-par party members to meaningfully contribute in relation to their mechanically superior teammates in each encounter or for an overpowered party member to keep from being bored.
You sound bitter. You didn't even give reasons why 4e killed your interest (other than some Forgotten Realms lore). For what it's worth 4e is a lot more fun to play than it is to read about so if you've never actually played you might be missing out on some fun times. You won't really know if you'll like the games or not unless you play them. Even if you don't like 4e table top RPG you might unexpectedly like the CRPG. Who knows? But either way I'd advise against pre-judging.
Good post. We currently have cargo "lighter than air" airships in research and development. One of the first places where it might be used is carrying massive objects (oil rigs and such) to the arctic regions where it is difficult for ships and planes to get to.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/30/blimps-aircraft-freight
The first thing you should know about Windows programs (and most if not all GUI programming) is that the programs generally run in a loop (even if your programming language of choice hides this from you) and act upon receipt of "messages" from the OS. You have to program, among other things, what happens when you receive the message that says "the user pressed this button you've made" or "the timer you've set up has ticked" or "the user pressed the close window button", etc... Understanding this basic model will help you no matter which language you choose.
The BASIC Stamp kit from parralax is pretty nifty. It will let you get started on simple projects right away. I bought one from Radio Shack on a whim and really liked it. It does a good job of explaining the digital portions of the circuit examples it gives. The downside is it doesn't explain much about the analog portions of those circuits so you'll probably want to look into other resources for that info.
I think the real deciding factor is, can the additional content be purchased for less than or equal to $15/month? If it can, then no problem, you're just like a subscription based mmo (except you can skip new content and expense for a month if you have other things going on). If it would cost more than $15/month, and you or your friends didn't think it was worth it, then I can see the problem.
I started playing DDO last week. I bought it when it first came out and didn't subscribe past the first month. If it still required a subscription, I still would not be playing it.
From what I can tell, for those that do subscribe under the new plan, they DO get access to all of the content (along with 500 points to spend on things like character slots), so I don't see how you lost anything. Or you could pay as you go and get each section separately, which is most likely what I'll end up doing. I'm a casual player, so I don't see myself plowing through more than $15 worth of content a month. The hybrid model seems to offer more options for the customers without taking away anything the pure monthly subscription offered.
Lets say you come home from work at a real job and it's your time to do whatever you want. Would you rather work even more for $1/hour or would you rather watch TV (or surf the web or spend time with your family - basically anything you would want to do that doesn't pay cash)? Clearly free time has more value than $1/hour, at least if you aren't destitute to the point of needing that dollar.
In fact the value of free time is a function of how well your material needs and wants are met along with how much free time you already have. If you're unemployed, you're more willing to give up 8 hours of your day for cash than if you were already working 8 hours a day and were asked to give up 8 more.
All of the people who are legitimately standing in line for hours and giving money will be inconvenienced, and all of the people you're trying to keep out will just walk right in.
Replace hours with years and you've just described our immigration system.
I always liked CS because you knew before you turned in the assignment whether or not it would work, and if it didn't work you could try to figure out what was going wrong and fix it. With English or History you weren't always sure which "key words" the professor was looking for.
Slashdot Mirror
Does the term "opportunity cost" mean anything to you?
The service obviously wasn't "essential." The home owners are still alive. If they thought their home was worth more than $75 they would have paid the bill.
I can think of a few genres you're missing: Dinosaurs, Ancient Civilization, Vikings, Wild West, Post-Apocalyptic, Eastern Fantasy, Arabian Fantasy, Undersea Adventure, Elemental, etc...
TF2 has 9 classes to choose from! And quests ("push the cart!", "go get the flag!", "defend the point!"). You gain new loot by playing. You can get achievements. You group with other players and kill enemies. It's basically the best online RPG ever.
For all the people say "LOL they'll just print more" or "OMG censorship is bad!" here are the relevant parts of the story:
"[T]he Defense Intelligence Agency objected to the use of the names of American intelligence officers, among other issues." and "A new print run, without the disputed passages, is being prepared by the publisher."
This compromise is reasonable and legal. We still get the story but the intelligence officers names won't be published.
I suppose it depends on your definition of "now". Discrete graphics cards will still work with both systems. Fully integrated graphics won't reach the level of obsoleting discrete graphics for several more years.
I agree. This slash story is pretty lame. Also Han shot Greedo preemptively. Han was a rogue, not a white knight.
I like the way the combat system works for magic and martial. Playing a barbarian in 4e is really a lot of fun. The rages give interesting and varied side effects and the bonuses for charging (with the appropriate build) make combats a lot more dynamic.
Balance is objectively a "good thing" for games with multiple players who each want to contribute. This isn't a movie script, it is a game. If you want the party to have challenges then it will be a lot more fun for all the participants if the challenge is some outside force against a balanced party rather than a challenge for sub-par party members to meaningfully contribute in relation to their mechanically superior teammates in each encounter or for an overpowered party member to keep from being bored.
You sound bitter. You didn't even give reasons why 4e killed your interest (other than some Forgotten Realms lore). For what it's worth 4e is a lot more fun to play than it is to read about so if you've never actually played you might be missing out on some fun times. You won't really know if you'll like the games or not unless you play them. Even if you don't like 4e table top RPG you might unexpectedly like the CRPG. Who knows? But either way I'd advise against pre-judging.
I'd like a co-op version of Dragon Age. I also like 4e D&D. The premise is good. Will the game be good? No one knows yet so don't hate.
Good post. We currently have cargo "lighter than air" airships in research and development. One of the first places where it might be used is carrying massive objects (oil rigs and such) to the arctic regions where it is difficult for ships and planes to get to. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/30/blimps-aircraft-freight
Air Force Planning Giant Spy Airship
http://www.military.com/news/article/March-2009/air-force-planning-giant-spy-airship.html
ILC Dover has extended its contract with Lockheed Martin to provide lighter-than-air "aerostats", very similar to a blimp. The aerostats are used in Afghanistan and Iraq to provide surveillance and communication for U.S. troops.
http://whyy.org/cms/news/regional-news/delaware/2010/06/24/delaware-company-builds-unmanned-airships-for-u-s-military/40647
Iraqi conflict brings increased interest in military airships
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3738/is_200307/ai_n9258465/
And in case you were wondering, it's not just the US that's interested in modern airship technology. China has plans for them too.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4649479
We probably spend more time thinking about victims in Afghanistan than we did before we had the Internet.
The first thing you should know about Windows programs (and most if not all GUI programming) is that the programs generally run in a loop (even if your programming language of choice hides this from you) and act upon receipt of "messages" from the OS. You have to program, among other things, what happens when you receive the message that says "the user pressed this button you've made" or "the timer you've set up has ticked" or "the user pressed the close window button", etc... Understanding this basic model will help you no matter which language you choose.
For higher level programming perhaps. But when I took assembly in college it reminded me more of BASIC than anything else.
The BASIC Stamp kit from parralax is pretty nifty. It will let you get started on simple projects right away. I bought one from Radio Shack on a whim and really liked it. It does a good job of explaining the digital portions of the circuit examples it gives. The downside is it doesn't explain much about the analog portions of those circuits so you'll probably want to look into other resources for that info.
http://www.parallax.com/tabid/270/default.aspx#New
Doesn't DDO offer the option of a monthly fee to access all content?
I think the real deciding factor is, can the additional content be purchased for less than or equal to $15/month? If it can, then no problem, you're just like a subscription based mmo (except you can skip new content and expense for a month if you have other things going on). If it would cost more than $15/month, and you or your friends didn't think it was worth it, then I can see the problem.
I started playing DDO last week. I bought it when it first came out and didn't subscribe past the first month. If it still required a subscription, I still would not be playing it.
From what I can tell, for those that do subscribe under the new plan, they DO get access to all of the content (along with 500 points to spend on things like character slots), so I don't see how you lost anything. Or you could pay as you go and get each section separately, which is most likely what I'll end up doing. I'm a casual player, so I don't see myself plowing through more than $15 worth of content a month. The hybrid model seems to offer more options for the customers without taking away anything the pure monthly subscription offered.
Lets say you come home from work at a real job and it's your time to do whatever you want. Would you rather work even more for $1/hour or would you rather watch TV (or surf the web or spend time with your family - basically anything you would want to do that doesn't pay cash)? Clearly free time has more value than $1/hour, at least if you aren't destitute to the point of needing that dollar.
In fact the value of free time is a function of how well your material needs and wants are met along with how much free time you already have. If you're unemployed, you're more willing to give up 8 hours of your day for cash than if you were already working 8 hours a day and were asked to give up 8 more.
If we all worked 20 hour weeks, we'd all by 50% poorer
That's only true if you value leisure time at $0.
Replace hours with years and you've just described our immigration system.
I thought this story was going to be about the National Republican Committee, Virgina Tech and baseball.
I always liked CS because you knew before you turned in the assignment whether or not it would work, and if it didn't work you could try to figure out what was going wrong and fix it. With English or History you weren't always sure which "key words" the professor was looking for.